Video Premiere: Chris Cape’s ‘Give Me Love, I Won’t Bring Trouble’

Chris Cape will release his music video for Give Me Love, I Won’t Bring Trouble tomorrow and we manged to get a exclusive premiere of the single below!

The music video sees Cape become ‘something out of a b-grade, ancient Egyptian inspired sci-fi movie’ and stresses if it feels most like him then that’s cool. The instrumental side of the song was recorded in Cape Town (South Africa) together with Robsco. Cape normally works with drummer Bertie Atkinson despite him not featuring on this particular track. The singer released the experimental Lawnmower EP among other projects and will be continue to perform and release regularly in London (UK) throughout 2017. We managed to catch up with Cape as he talked about the music video, latest EP, live shows and more!

Chris Cape

So you’re about to release the video for Give Me Love, I Won’t Bring Trouble, tell us about the song.

Give Me Love, I Won’t Bring Trouble is about the struggle for ones own identity. We all crave acceptance and for others to let us be, however, we are often instead forced to be a more socially acceptable version of ourselves.

I recorded an unrestrained number of electric guitars and Robsco really got it sounding lush in the mix. The swing drums and synth bass to give it a hypnotic feel which almost made it easier to write some of the more personal lyrics.

The instrumental was recorded in Cape Town (South Africa) together with Robsco and the final vocals were recorded in London (UK).

Lyrically and musically the song builds to it’s ultimate release at the Middle 8 with the lyrics:

‘no matter what I do

it won’t be right for you

so I’m gon’ see this through

‘cause life is what I choose

no matter what I do… ‘

Are you looking forward to sharing the music video for this with fans?

Extremely excited about this one. I’m a fully DIY artist ATM so the number of hours that go into something like this from start to finish is just crazy. The most important thing now is really have my fans and friends come onboard and share this sucker.

How will the video tie in with the lyrics of the song?

Nice question. The video is entirely led by the lyrics. The song is about feeling suffocated and disallowed to really be oneself. With each verse I get more intense in the lyrics and more intent on breaking free and letting that freak flag fly. As you can see on the video that journey is mirrored by my appearance. By the end of the song I’ve made peace with the fact that if I feel most like me looking like something out of a b-grade, ancient Egyptian inspired sci-fi movie, that’s cool.

This song was one of the most painful and personal songs to write and I’m sure it’s something that everyone can relate to in a big or small way.

The idea with the outfit was to wear something I felt epic in, and that was achieved. Those amazing shoulder pads were made by Clarice Rebecca Buck at Sweet‘n’Twisted am and I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to work with her.

I never really planned for the “Lawnmower EP” to be a big thing. It’s a collection of mostly experimental ideas that come out of hanging with my friend Robsco. The fact that it’s turned into a solid collection of work is a big bonus. I’m happy with it and the feedback so far has been amazing. I would say however that over the last while I’ve noticed that people are way more into being drip-fed singles than being giving a big bunch of songs to wade through. I think I will keep this in mind with all future releases and release songs one at a time. Ideally all with music videos and then package it all as an EP at the end of the process.

Have you got any live shows in the works?

I’m playing a smasher of a show on Thursday the 23rd of March at the Monarch in Camden (nearest tube is Chalk Farm). My drummer Bertie Atkinson will be joining me for that show. It’s gonna be intense. You are invited to come down with your gig review pad! Are you in?

If you could work with any artist on a new song, who would it be and why?

This is a tough one. For the most part I enjoy the isolation of writing songs and usually the same for producing records. The big dream would be to work with some of the great recording and mixing engineers out there. I tend to get close to the sound and mix I want but the journey is exhausting. I think working with some of the greats on that fielded would really free me up to write more and write better.

For a collaborative production including the writing phase I’d love to work with Kanye West on his stuff. I feel like he’s just the kind of studio monster I could get on with. I’d be way up for recording a million guitars and vocal ideas knowing that I won’t know if I’m actually on the record until the day he puts it out.

Kanye if you’re listening?! I’m in.

I’m super into Jason Lytle’s writing. He’s known for a band called Grandaddy and they/he has a new album out next month. I’d dig to work with him, but I imagine since we are both home studio loner types it may not flow. I think he’s genius and would love to get to meet him.

What has been your proudest moment to date?

I think each release means a lot to me at the time. It’s hard to pinpoint one show or one release. I think the majority of my proudest moments are found in good feedback. It could be a blog or magazine review or something like that. Just to know that all that time spent crafting something to move people was all worth it. That’s what I’m in it for. I want to improve people’s lives. I want let people know, through my songs, that they are not alone in what they are going through.

What drives you to carry on making music every day?

It’s what drives me to get out of bed. So once I’m up I owe it the respect to put the time in!

Would like to release a full studio album one day?

I would love to release a full studio album at some point. I’ve thought about doing it DIY but at this point am resolved to finding the right label for a full length release.